Smart food mission, sale of land in Budget focus

New Delhi: With finance minister Arun Jaitley all set to present the last full Budget of the government before the 2019 polls, the government is likely to keep its focus on boosting the agriculture and infrastructure sectors with an eye on wooing the rural poor and investing in big ticket projects to bring in more private investments. 

Setting up of a smart food mission and a land bank corporation could be in the offing in the Union Budget, sources said.

Keen on wooing the rural votebank with just a little over a year left for the elections, the Narendra Modi government is understood to have finalised some major initiatives in the agriculture and infrastructure sectors, they added.

After high level parleys with agriculture ministry and Niti Aayog, the finance ministry is learnt to be considering the proposal of setting up a smart food mission, under which nutri-cereals could be integrated in the public distribution system in order to provide it with greater market support.

White space tech gift to rural sector
Also in what could be a major telecommunication gift to the rural sector, highly placed sources said that during recent deliberations on the budget within the Niti Aayog and PMO, a proposal to use white space technology for ensuring last mile internet broadband connectivity in villages may also be announced. White space is unused broadcasting frequencies in the spectrum which can be used for expanding internet broadband in remote areas.

Infrastructure is likely to be another focus area, as creation of a land bank corporation could be announced in the Union Budget.

Sources informed Deccan Chronicle that in order to monetise its land assets, the Government is mulling a proposal of brownfield asset recycling.